Anglers gather to share fishing strategies Friday, Oct. 18, 2024, during Oregon Department of Fish and Game's brookstock collection event and Steelhead 101 course.

TROY — Anglers came from across Oregon — as well as from Idaho — over a recent weekend to take part in an annual broodstock-collection event and learn about steelhead fishing near Troy.

Four anglers showed up for the Steelhead 101 workshop held on the Grande Ronde River at the Wenaha Wildlife Area, according to Amanda Boyles of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, who ran the workshop.

“This year, we had five (sign up) and only four actually showed up,” she said, adding that the number was fewer than in previous years. “I don’t know what the problem was.”

Anglers who had participated in previous years were not allowed to sign up for the $70 course.

As for the general crowd that showed, Boyles said, “It seems like there’s less people than the past couple of years.”

But the event wasn’t just for old pros.

“Some of those here have never steelhead fished and about a third have never fished before ever,” she said.

The first day, Friday, Oct. 18, was when the majority of the workshop took place. Then on Saturday, the anglers got to try their hands on the river. The workshop included certified angling instructors such as Joe Van Domelen of the Association of Northwest Steelheaders from Portland.

Van Domelen agreed that much of catching steelhead — as with any fish — is just “fisherman’s luck.”

“It takes a lot of luck and a lot of casts,” he said.

But there is some technique involved and using the proper equipment, such as lures with weights, spinners or bobbers.

“They’ll cast in and raise it up and take a couple steps downriver and keep going,” he said. “Sometimes the weight is a jig — a lure — and they’ll watch the bobber so when it goes under, they’ll know they have a bite.”

Boyles said she hopes the event can grow.

“Even the seasoned steelhead fishermen felt they learned a lot. We got people from Idaho, too,” she said. “We’re looking forward to next year and reaching out to Washington and Idaho to expand our reach.”

She said ODFW is eager to have anglers donate their catch to the broodstock haul, but if they catch a legal one, they can keep it.

The Grande Ronde is a “selective fishery,” in which steelhead with an adipose fin must be released. The adipose fin is the small fin just ahead of the tail. Having the adipose fin indicates the fish is wild. Hatchery-raised fish have had the adipose fin removed and are acceptable to keep.

Kyle Bratcher and Mike Lance, the district fish biologist and his assistant, respectively, were running the bloodstock-collection portion of the event. Their goal is to add to the steelhead at the Wallowa Fish Hatchery in Enterprise and one at Big Canyon near Minam to be raised and reproduce for next year’s crop of fish.

“The idea was to catch next year’s smolts and take them back to Enterprise where they’ll be raised and then released,” Lance said.

He said that this year, the 45-50 anglers who participated contributed 36 adult steelhead to the collection tank ODFW had set up on the bank of the river.

“That’’s a little over double what we got last year,” he said.

He said about 10% of them will have a predisposition to return to spawn early after making their migratory trip to the ocean. He said hatchery personnel will collect about 400 fish to produce about 800,000 smolts — young fish — that are needed for next year.

The adults will be held until March or April when they’re ready to spawn and the smolts will be released at Enterprise or Minam in April to begin their migration to the ocean.

Lance said the broodstock-collection has been going on about 15 years.

“This will give better angling opportunities here in Northeast Oregon,” he said.